


The End is Never The End

by Rayli_Pines



Category: The Stanley Parable
Genre: Attempted Suicide, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Other, Prevented Suicide, do what you want, leaning toward platonic, stanley is pretty depressed and done with everything, you can choose whether this is platonic or otherwise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:40:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27452122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rayli_Pines/pseuds/Rayli_Pines
Summary: It seems that Stanley’s done with it all. He walks up the stairs, looking down at the big drop. The Narrator begs and pleads for him to stay away. He doesn’t want to listen. He’s over it. Just as he’s getting ready to step off, he hears something unexpected from the Narrator.“Please, I don’t want to be alone, Stanley!”His foot is already outstretched into empty air as he registers the sentence. It’s at this moment that he wants to stop, run down the stairs, as far away from the possibility of death as possible. But it’s too late. His body weight has already shifted onto his leg that is hanging over the edge and he’s falling.But then something catches him.SomeONE.
Relationships: Stanarrator, Starrator, The Narrator & Stanley (The Stanley Parable), The Narrator/Stanley (The Stanley Parable)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 73





	The End is Never The End

Stanley’s sitting in the Zending room, staring aimlessly at the drifting lights from the darkness, his eyes getting tired of watching so many colors. Why is he still there? He’s tired. The Narrator’s been silent for a few minutes now. He’s probably watching the floating lights happily. But not Stanley. Stanley’s tired of all the repeated endings, all the glitches, all the routes, every easter egg, until he’s left with the same boring recycled lines, over and over again.

And he’s exhausted. He’s done with it all.

“Stanley?” the Narrator’s confused voice asks, “Where are you going?”

Stanley doesn’t spare a single glance at the room as he leaves, his footsteps emitting dull clacking sounds as his shoes hit the hard ground. The hallway has a couple of turns, his pale hands running along the monochromatic walls as he walks.

“S-Stanley? Stanley, can we please go back to the other room?” The Narrator’s voice is pleading and unsure. 

Stanley ignores his request and keeps going. Soon, he’s standing at the bottom of a staircase. It leads up to a ledge where he can jump. He knows he’s seen this staircase before; he’s been to the Zending route plenty of times. But now? Now, he has a different mindset. He doesn’t want to die and restart. No, he wants to die and STAY dead.

“Stanley, Stanley, please step away from the stairs!” the Narrator begs, his voice trembling. Rustles of paper are audible, however, they’re a bit different than the Narrator’s normal paper-rustles. It’s hasty. Desperate, even. “Please — i-it’s not letting me —” His voice is further away this time, almost like he’s talking to himself. “W-why did I _ever_ think taking away the restart was a good idea?! Oh, G_d, I don’t have enough time to— if he dies before I turn the reset option back on, he’s gone _forever!_ I-I can’t—”

Oh. Well, isn’t that convenient? 

Just as Stanley reaches the top of the stairs, he takes a long look at the fall height. It’s longer than he remembers. He shrugs to himself, a humorless, breathy laugh escaping his throat, and prepares to step off. He swings his leg outwards and into the open air, ready to plunge to his permanent— _FINALLY_ permanent— death. There’s a staticky buzzing in his ears, muffling the frantic words and requests from the panicked Narrator. Just before he falls off, though, he hears something through the buzzing. The voice is shaky and tearful.

**_“Please, I don’t want to be alone, Stanley!”_ **

The static’s gone from his ears. His foot hangs in the air, his entire body frozen from the Narrator’s statement. If Stanley dies, will the Narrator be left here without anyone to talk to? Can’t he leave the parable..?

Then it hits Stanley— the Narrator is just as stuck as he is. He can’t escape this horrid loop of mazes and puzzles and orders. 

It seems he comes to this realization too late, however, as his body weight shifts over to his foot hanging over the edge and he starts falling. The sound of rushing air fills his ears as he begins to panic. It sounds stupid to him, but he doesn’t want to die anymore. Who would if after so long, they have a reason to live again? If he leaves this world, he leaves the Narrator alone in a twisted universe with nobody to talk to or see. It terrifies Stanley.

And now, he’s going to empty the Narrator’s life of anything to exist for, all because he decided to pathetically run away from his life. Stanley closes his eyes and braces for impact.

An impact that was much softer than he anticipated.

“Oof!” a familiar voice exclaims below him, seeming to have broken the fall for Stanley. A familiar voice. The Narrator? 

Stanley opens his eyes and realizes that he’s in someone’s hold. It’s a clumsy hold, but there are indeed two arms that caught him. 

“Stanley!” the man clutching onto Stanley exclaims in a panicked voice. “Stanley, are you alright?! Oh my G_d, please don’t _ever_ do that again! I… I almost… you almost…”

The Narrator sets Stanley down, allowing the dazed man to process what just happened. He turns around to look at who saved him.

Narrator— or at least, a man with his voice— has chocolate brown hair that’s greying at his temples. Despite his greying hair, he looks relatively young, maybe in his mid-thirties (if that’s considered young), and is a bit taller than Stanley. His eyes are emerald green and over them are black-rimmed eyeglasses. He’s wearing a yellow sweater vest over a simple white collared shirt, covering most of his slightly tanned skin. His greyish-brown pants are barely creased and paired with some black dress shoes. His face is slightly wrinkled in concern and a frown tugs at his lips.

“Narrator?” Stanley gasps, his eyes wide and shocked.

“Yes, Stanley— wait, can you see me?” 

“Yes, I can,” Stanley replies, fidgeting with his shirt sleeve, and after a moment, mutters, “I-I’m sorry, for… for trying to…” He pauses and gestures to the stairs. 

“Well— well—!” Narrator stammers, his usually sharp-witted mind seeming to draw a blank. “What were you thinking, Stanley?! If you see a staircase leading to your impending doom, you don’t jump off of it!”

“I was just tired, okay?” Stanley huffs, crossing his arms, his eyes starting to sting with tears. “I didn’t want to stay in this stupid place anymore. I don’t want to be stuck here! I’ve tried everything to escape, the Escape Pod route, the Freedom route, I even jumped off the cargo at least fifty times!”

“You…” the Narrator nearly whispers, shocked, “You can remember all the different endings?” 

Stanley looks up at him, confused. “You didn’t know?”

“No, of course not, how would I—?” he cuts himself off and his expression turns into one of horrible realization. “My G_d… you can remember the endings when I…” He clamps a hand over his mouth, his eyes looking a bit more watery than before. Although his voice is muffled behind his hand, Stanley can understand him. “I was… horrible to you… G_d, no wonder you wanted to escape…”

“I guess I was angry at you for some time,” Stanley sighs, “But I realized that you’re just as stranded as I am. Do you really not know how to leave this place?”

“…No, I don’t believe so.” He lets out a soft sigh, his hand dropping from his mouth to his side, no longer muffling his speech. “I’ve tried quite a lot before you arrived here. I’ve given up at this point. I was given a job to do and I just thought that… well, it’s the only reason I’m here.”

“Well…” Stanley smiles kindly, extending his hand. “If we’re stuck here, why not be stuck together?”

The Narrator stares at Stanley incredulously, his mouth slightly open in shock. After a moment, he lets out a breathy laugh, both hopeful and confused. 

“You’d stay with someone like me?” he asks, his tone of voice disbelieving. “I hurt you in so many ways, Stanley, I don’t… You can’t possibly forgive all of that.”

“I don’t,” Stanley states, his hand unmoving from its outstretched position, “But I doubt that I never will. Besides, I’ve hurt you too. Wrecking your story, refusing to listen to you, lots of things. But I’m willing to work to make up those mistakes. So, friends?”

The Narrator remains silent for a few seconds before his expression breaks into a weak smile. He takes Stanley’s hand and nods.

“Friends.”

**(Bonus)**   
“By the way, why was the reset option broken?”

“I, uh..” the Narrator’s grin falters and he looks sheepish. “I took it out in case you tried to reset. I wanted to stay in the Zending room for a while and I didn’t want to risk losing it again. I didn’t think that you’d try to…” He sighs. “Well, I can restore it, but it takes a bit to do. I didn’t have enough time when you were about to jump.”

Stanley blinks. “…I can’t tell if that was the dumbest thing you’ve ever said or the smartest thing.”

“Actually, it may be the sappiest,” the Narrator chuckles, squeezing Stanley’s hand gently.

**Author's Note:**

> yes, i'm very aware that the stanley parable is a bit of an old fandom, BUT IT'S AMAZING OKAY?? also i want the narrator and stanley to be happy pls let them be happy  
> oh yeah and remember yesterday i told y'all that I'm only going to post one fic? yeah turns out i lied, i get creative boosts a couple times a week, be prepared for fun nonsense (or un-fun nonsense ig)  
> also, how does one write an ending i'm struggling right now


End file.
